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Lot 254
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Sale of More Than 130 Slaves Detailed in 21pp Amazing & Horrific Archive
Sale of More Than 130 Slaves Detailed in 21pp Amazing & Horrific Archive
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Description:

Slavery
New Orleans, LA, ca. 1850s
Sale of More Than 130 Slaves Detailed in 21pp Amazing & Horrific Archive

[SLAVERY.] Archive of documents from the administration of the estate of Daniel Clark, ca. 1850s. 21 pp., 8" x 12.5". Expected folds; some tears on folds; very good.

These documents regarding the administration of the estate of wealthy New Orleans businessman Daniel Clark undoubtedly came from his daughter's fifty-seven-year legal battle to obtain her inheritance. They detail the administration of his estate by his former business partners Richard Relf and Beverly Chew. Among the property affected by the administration of Clark's estate were approximately one-third of the real estate in New Orleans at the time of his death in 1811 and the fate of hundreds of enslaved African Americans.

The excerpt below lists 133 slaves sold singly or in various groups to a variety of purchasers. The lawsuits of Myra Clark Whitney Gaines, beginning in 1834, called into question the validity of these sales as well as the disposition of other parts of Clark's estate.

Excerpts
"Daniel Clark's private estate distinct from his estate in copartnership with Chew & Relf."
"By Sales at Auction by the Register of Wills
"Household furniture 793.
"Library 1077.75
"Flowers 309.87
"Cattle received from the Cannes Brules estate 1421.75
"Sale by ditto to M. C. Portier of the Cannes Brules estate and slaves 120,000.
"To Ed Macarty, 5 slaves, Peggy Jenny, Reefe, Mary and William 1350.
"M & C Portier 7 D Jack Nan, Neusen, Solomon, Sarah, William, Jenny, Rose and son Bob, Fanny with her three children, Mayer, Nelson and Mary, Winny with her three children, Elie, Becky, and Maria 5,225.
"F. Labane 2 slaves, Eliza and child William 690.
"F Dupuis 3 slaves Hannah, Bird, & Patty 1,260.
"Mons Deynoul one slave Polly 460.
"S. Dufossat one slave, Fanny 500.
"C Avart four slaves, Milly, Nancy, Keyley and Tom 1,400.
"C. Bonnefor 1 slave Nancy 415.
"L. M. Sazony 2 slaves Waldrout and Charlotte 800.
"Mad Morant 2 Do Kitty and child Tom 495.
"Henry Elkins 1 slave Old Richard 260.
"Mons Nachace 2 slaves Dinah & James 500.
"Desdunes fils 1 slave, Rachel 415.
"La __ 1 slave Sacky 395.
"V. L. Trudeau, six slaves, Liddy and five children, Menny, Lucky, Edmond, Elly, and Nelly 1,705.
"Mons Deyrant, one slave Billy 395.
"N. Fortier, three slaves, Jenny and her two children, Henrietta & Riley 850.
"Mons Saublanc, two slaves, Arthur and Richard 830.
"Mons Labanc, fils, two slaves, Sally and Kitty 835.
"Mons Verbais three slaves Rully, Birne, and Anne 1,375.
"Thomas Beale, One slave Richard 325.
"Camille Brule, one slave Peggy 365.
"Joseph, one slave David 315.
"La Bane, one slave, Patience 350
"at private sale
"To Bemondy fils one slave Old Set 200.
"N. Nyer one slave, Betty 150.
"Mrs. Robertson, one slave, Jauvier 100.
"John McDonough, nine slaves Anthony, Elley, Brown, James, Davis, Doctor, Darkey, Peggy, infirm and crippled 900.
"By sale to Dusuan De la Croix of 57 slaves, [Meroh?], Phebe, Hebe, Tom, Turkey, John, Jambin, Fanny, Levin, John, Winny, Esther, Jos McCall, Hannah, Phil, Betsy, Montin, Elher, Mouring, Cambridge, Polly, John, Julien, Fanny, Esther, Bob, Jacob, Randolph, Nell, Mack, Jason, Jack, Jermie, Brice, Henry, Cox, Sam, Gran Sam, Auguste, Sharon, Thomas, Doriana Smith, Little Norny, Judith, Davy, Joe, Turkey, Victoire, Joe, Davis, John Hanson, Wallace, Andre, and five orphan children, Squire, Tom, Davy, Ann, and Gabriel, estimated in inventory 21,050."

Historical Background
In 1802, Daniel Clark allegedly married Louisiana-born French socialite Zulime Carrière (1781-1853), who had married one of Clark's business partners, Frenchman Jerome DesGrange, when she was thirteen and he was forty. Zulime Clark gave birth to their only child Myra Clark in June 1804. She insisted that her first marriage was invalid because DesGrange was a bigamist, and in 1806, she traveled to New Orleans in an attempt to get the marriage annulled.

Meanwhile, Clark began to court Louisa Caton in Philadelphia and destroyed all documents proving his marriage to Carrière. Myra Clark (1804-1885) was put in the care of Clark's friend Colonel Samuel Davis and his wife Marian in New Orleans. Although Daniel Clark visited his daughter and provided some financial support for her care, he did not acknowledge his paternity. She moved with the Clarks to Philadelphia after the War of 1812 began and grew up there.

After Daniel Clark died, Colonel Davis contacted Relf and Chew, the executors of his will, to learn if he had left anything for his daughter. Clark's 1811 will named his mother Mary Clark as his only heir. After she learned that she was Clark's child and had married attorney William Wallace Whitney in 1832, Myra Clark Whitney discovered that her father had made a second will in 1813 that acknowledged her as his rightful heir and left her nearly his entire estate. William W. Whitney filed a preliminary lawsuit in 1834 against Relf and Chew to contest the validity of the 1811 will. The court ruled in favor of Relf and Chew, who also successfully prosecuted a libel suit against William W. Whitney, who spent a month in prison.

Lawsuits continued over the next two decades, as Myra Clark Whitney, who married Edmund Pendleton Gaines in 1839 after her first husband died of yellow fever in 1837, sought to contest the settlement of her father's estate. The lawsuits posed a threat to dozens of property owners in New Orleans, who had purchased city lots, plantations, hundreds of slaves, and other items from Daniel Clark's estate. She achieved her first courtroom victory in 1843 and continued to accumulate procedural victories before the U.S. Supreme Court, where her case appeared seventeen times. In 1858, the Louisiana Supreme Court admitted Daniel Clark's 1813 will to probate. When Myra Clark Gaines returned to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1860 and 1867, the Court declared Gaines to be the legitimate child and only heir of Daniel Clark. By this time, the reported value of his estate was more than $35 million. The final ruling came in 1891, six years after Myra Clark Gaines died, when the court ordered the City of New Orleans to pay her estate $923,788. Gaines's creditors quickly filed claims for more than $860,000, leaving her heirs with only a small fraction of the settlement.

Daniel Clark (1766-1813) was born in Sligo, Ireland, and educated at Eton College in England. He emigrated to the United States in the early 1780s and settled for a time in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1786, his merchant uncle Daniel J. Clark Sr. invited him to move to New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana. He immediately began buying slaves and establishing himself as a businessman. Although he was a Spanish citizen, he worked for the interests of the United States, providing President Thomas Jefferson with detailed information about Louisiana. In New Orleans, Clark engaged in land speculation, plantations, shipping, and banking, but he left most of the management of his interests to merchants Beverly Chew and Richard Relf. Clark represented the Territory of Orleans in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1806 to 1809. In 1807, he fought a duel with territorial governor William C. C. Claiborne over a speech Clark made in Congress. In 1809, he published a long and detailed account of the corruption of General James Wilkinson and his connections with Aaron Burr. When he died unexpectedly in New Orleans, Clark owned approximately one-third of the real estate in the city. The child of a secret marriage contested his will, leading to a legal contest that continued for more than 57 years, appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court 17 times and in Louisiana and lower federal courts at least 70 times.

Beverly Chew (1773-1851) was born in Virginia to a Revolutionary War veteran and his wife. In 1797, he moved to New Orleans, where he formed a mercantile partnership with Richard Relf. They worked closely with Daniel William Coxe and Daniel Clark and were involved in almost every major New Orleans business. A major stockholder in the Bank of Louisiana, Chew was active in land speculation in Louisiana and Texas and the slave trade. In 1812, President James Madison appointed Chew as vice consul to Russia at New Orleans to encourage trade with that nation. Chew served as a volunteer rifleman under General Andrew Jackson during the Gulf Campaign and the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. From 1816 to 1829, Chew served as Collector of Customs for the Port of New Orleans, but in the latter year, President Andrew Jackson refused to reappoint him, perhaps because he was president of the New Orleans branch of the Second Bank of the United States. He later served as cashier and then president of the New Orleans Canal and Banking Company. With Relf, Chew served as co-executor of Daniel Clark's estate.

Richard Relf (1778-1857) was born in Philadelphia. He moved to New Orleans, where he formed a mercantile partnership with Beverly Chew. They were involved in several commercial ventures, including many with Daniel Clark. Reverses caused by the War of 1812 led their firm into bankruptcy. He served as cashier of the Louisiana State Bank from 1818 to 1857. He also served as Steamship Debenture Clerk in the New Orleans custom house. With Chew, Relf served as co-executor of Daniel Clark's estate and a litigant in the many lawsuits pursued by Clark's daughter, Myra Clark Gaines.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8" x 12.5"

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000